


a euphemism; the evocati

by deuteroscopies



Series: the prophet and the king [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Abandonment, Altar Sex, Anal Sex, Demonic Possession, Dubious Consent Due To Identity Issues, M/M, Oil, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Rope Bondage, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-18 17:29:04
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21530623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deuteroscopies/pseuds/deuteroscopies
Summary: Soapberry's residents have been stripped of their supernatural powers. Without his witch magic to hold it back, the demon Anaxis has taken control of Ephram, and Freddie, meeting it for the first time, gets entangled past what he expected. Fortunately (?) the townsfolk are being sucked into mana pools that they must 'shut off' in order to return things to normal, and Freddie finds himself pulled out of the demon's grasp but hung on a cross for his troubles.
Relationships: Freddie Watts/Ephram Pettaline
Series: the prophet and the king [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1551673





	a euphemism; the evocati

**Author's Note:**

> > Freddie Watts = Tom Hardy FC, Ephram Pettaline = Boyd Holbrook FC. These stories are set in the supernatural town of Soapberry Springs, in the Pacific Northwest. Freddie is a fairy con man from London, with cobalt-coloured dragonfly wings and silver fairy dust, who has a Japanese Chin familiar named Oliver; Ephram is a witch from impoverished East Kentucky who shares his body with a demon called Anaxis and has green magic of his own.
>> 
>> [the prophet and the king 'verse tumblr](http://theprophetandtheking.tumblr.com/)  
> 

_[TXT] Ephram? It’s Freddie. (My ego won’t allow me to remind you how we know each other.) Seeing as everything’s gone to Hell, and I need a need a little something to take the edge off, do you fancy a drink?_

Anaxis just about cackled with glee when it saw the message come in. The demon had fully intended to pay Freddie a visit, this fairy who Ephram had enjoyed so thoroughly (to the point where he’d featured in the ol’ spank bank very prominently of late), but this was even better.

[TXT] Believe me, there’s no way I’d be forgetting you in a hurry, darling.

[TXT] Definitely we should meet. You have your drink, I’ll drink you up. At the warehouse again, so we can have privacy?

[TXT] Get here fast.

Smiling at the speed of Ephram’s reply, Freddie sent back his answer just as quickly. There was no need to drag one’s feet when all the cards were already on the table.

_[TXT] Good answer, love._

_[TXT] See you soon._

Done and dusted.

Heading over to where Ollie was curled in what had become his favorite chair, Freddie crouched down to get on his level, giving him a little stroke and ruffling his ears. “Going out for bit, mate,” he murmured, “-but I should be back in a few hours,” before sighing - the distance between them still as painful as always - and straightening up again.

He needed a reprieve; just for a little while. And Ephram, he was certain, could give it to him.

Freddie headed out the door, locking it behind him, making his way down the stairs and out to the street; a genuine smile tugging at his lips for the first time in days.

He’d give Ephram whatever he liked in return.

They’d only met once, a rendezvous in which clothing hadn’t played much of a part, but Anaxis figured there was a chance that even still, Freddie might twig to there being something unusual in the haute couture way that Anaxis dressed in comparison to Ephram's backwoods jeans-and-flannel uniform. Everything about Ephram pointed to exactly the kind of man he was, any _anyone_ with a few powers of observation to jingle around would be able to tell that, even having met only one single highly-physical time.

That didn’t bother the demon. It didn’t adhere to the same stale old repertoire that a lot of demons at its level clung to fang and claw; the pretending to still be Ephram, the single-minded interest in torture and gore, the being easily goaded or tricked. Anaxis was bored with all that amateur junk. It liked to weasel in more surreptitiously than that, plant corrupted seeds and leave them to grow. It would be crazy fun to see what could happen with this Freddie, a more-or-less unknown quantity.

The door to the warehouse was open when Freddie arrived, and before the fairy could speak, Anaxis had grabbed him by the collar and dragged him inside, kissing him with a voracious hunger.

When Ephram grabbed him, pulling him close and kissing him deep and hard, Freddie couldn’t help but smile into it, taking hold of Ephram’s shirt and gripping it tight in his fists, giving back as good as he got, and letting his own needy desperation out to play.

But it didn’t take long for him to realize that something was a little…off.

Not the force, or the hunger, or the ferocity - Freddie liked all that; and he’d meet it measure for measure every time - what was off, rather, was the kissing itself.

Not because it was lacking; far from it - but because it simply wasn’t the _same_.

Because while Freddie hadn’t yet had the opportunity to become well-versed in Ephram’s kisses - though it was certainly on his ‘to do’ list - he was most definitely an expert in kissing. All kinds, from all comers.

He’d been kissed by a cast of thousands, give or take a few, and the one thing that he knew for sure, beyond a shadow of a doubt, was that each person, man or woman, kissed with their very own particular signature. Like fingerprints, or snowflakes, each person’s kiss was uniquely their own.

And this most definitely wasn’t the witch’s. That much was obvious.

When they finally broke apart to breathe, Freddie pulled back just far enough to meet Ephram’s eyes and murmured, wondering just how much damage the loss of Ephram’s power had done, “Miss me, darling?”

“Like the deserts miss the rain,” Anaxis replied, followed with a careless laugh as it slung an arm around Freddie’s shoulders, the tips of its fingers playing coquettishly with the man’s hair. “And you seem a little parched too, dragonfly. It’s all a trick though, isn’t it? You couldn’t have been alone while we were apart. I’m sure you were flitting from branch to branch letting other people admire you too.” Anaxis lifted its nose slightly, slanting its newly clean-shaven chin as it regarded Freddie. “As you can probably tell, there’s been a slight … shift in management.”

At this Anaxis stepped completely away, sweeping its arms wide and standing on its tiptoes, hips thrust forward as its head tipped back. “Do you like it?” the demon asked, voice breathless and laughing before it came back down to its heels. “Not exactly the sweaty, grungy working man dirt-below-the-fingernails ... ahem ... 'charm' as Ephram, but not without _some_ charm, hmm?” Moving back forward, approach and retreat as if Freddie were some battlefield to be won, Anaxis cocked a hipbone against Freddie’s groin and licked a stripe up the fairy’s throat, ending up at his earlobe.

“My name’s Anaxis, beautiful,” it purred, biting down on the tender flesh. “I’m Ephram’s roommate, as it were. Meaning that I’m the demon that possesses him.”

Gone was Ephram’s slow Southern drawl - a fact that was a little jarring, though somehow not entirely unexpected under the circumstances - and even though Freddie immediately missed the smooth honeyed tones of the witch’s voice, he couldn’t help but smile at the flirtation being volleyed his way.

Those fingers in his hair didn’t hurt either…

“Not a trick, darling,” Freddie murmured with a teasing smile. “I just happen to have the kind of thirst that’s very very-” he leaned closer so that his lips brushed just across Ephram’s as he spoke, “…hard to quench.” He shifted back slightly and smirked. “And yes, I did happen to notice that you seem to have undergone a few changes since I saw you last…”

He stood there, transfixed as Ephram - or potentially Not-Ephram, as it happened - preened for him; putting Freddie in mind of Peter Pan crowing, ‘Oh, the cleverness of me!’

He actually found it rather charming really; in spite of the obvious ‘ _Where the fuck is Ephram?_ ’ of it all.

“I certainly don’t dislike it,” he answered, “-but I will miss the beard, love; I rather liked the way it felt… In fact, I rather liked the way _Ephram_ felt… Will I be seeing him again?”

But Freddie couldn’t help the way his body responded to Anaxis when the demon crowded in close, licking his neck and biting his ear; veritably dripping praise, and sex, and the promise of excitement. He was already half-hard in his trousers when the demon decided to explain itself.

“Ah, the beard, yes.” Anaxis rubbed that bare chin, cupping it in his palm as it gave Freddie an exaggeratedly sad look. “Perhaps I’ll grow it again. And keep it better maintained than the Appalachian underbrush that Ephram prefers.” It bumped back in close to Freddie, exquisitely manicured hands roaming the wide, muscled expanse of the fairy’s back. “It’s like you’re some fantastic minotaur,” the demon marvelled. “Smarter, though, of course. They’re absolutely a dumb as dogshit. Only good at goring and fucking.”

Freddie licked his lips, considering his next question, while the warmth of Ephram’s body - Anaxis’s body? - radiated through him. “So does this mean that we’ve already had a three-way the two of you failed to mention?” he asked with a smirk, a single half-remembered viewing of _The Exorcist_ not really preparing him for the reality of demonic possession. “Where’d Ephram toddle off to then, eh, sweetheart? Did he just decide to let you drive for a while?”

Moving against Freddie in waves, bringing different parts of their bodies into contact, always moving, Anaxis hummed in amusement at Freddie’s question. “In a manner of speaking, although when Ephram’s in charge I tend to go dormant out of sheer boredom. So unfortunately, you luscious creature, I don’t have much shared memory of what he did with you.” Laughing, Anaxis grabbed a handful of Freddie’s hair and tugged it, saying, “But that leaves me free to create my own memories of what you can do with this magnificent body you have! Built for debauchery.”

Anaxis stepped away again, going over to some coils of rope that Ephram had stacked neatly in a corner of the warehouse. It started to pick some smaller coils up, sorting through them, rejecting some as it answered Freddie’s question. “He didn’t have a choice in it. He’s a real wet blanket when it comes to letting me have any fun. But you’re up for it, aren’t you, honeywumpus?” Anaxis held up a thin black rope, smirking. “I have to tell you – I do amazing knot work, Freddie. And you would look like a great big juicy fuckfest properly trussed.”

“It’s _your_ face, love - or _Ephram’s_ , I suppose; I’m not sure of the appropriate descriptors given your shared accommodations, especially if Ephram didn’t actually abdicate - but the beard certainly has its advantages…” Freddie amended, “For me, at least. And I promise you, darling, I can be all the animal you require without the hassle of a labyrinth, hooves or horns.” Minotaur wouldn’t be making it onto his short list of favorite endearments any time soon, but he supposed he could appreciate the sentiment.

Smiling when Anaxis tugged his hair, and his cock twitching as the demon spoke about making memories of his own, Freddie’s gaze drifted over to where Ephram’d had him up against the barrel, before meeting his companion’s once more. “Could be built for you if you’d stop bloody teasing,” he murmured with a grin.

But at the mention of knot work, he laughed; following Anaxis over to where he stood, and taking the rope out of his hands. “Trust games already, love?” Freddie turned the coil about, considering. “If that’s on your wishlist I think you’ll have to convince me…”

He stepped inside the demon’s space, leaning closer to breathe in its ear. “So how about you tell me what you’d like to do to me once you’ve got me all tied up and helpless, and let’s see if that’s enough to get my knickers wet, hmm?”

“It’s the labyrinth that’s the real pain in the ass,” Anaxis confided with a nod. “Terrible for if you’re planning to beat a quiet retreat after all the fun’s over. Which is usually the case when it comes to shagging minotaurs.” It was really just talking shit at this point, but something told Anaxis that Freddie wasn’t the sort of person to be put off by that. He was a man who knew how to play, considering his cool, enormously adaptable response to finding out that his former sex partner was now the vehicle of a denizen of the underworld.

…Especially when the suggestion of rope didn’t put him off one tiny bit. Presented with a demon who was proposing bondage and he was this slick about it? Anaxis began to suspect there was a great deal more about Freddie than Ephram – poor, simple, slutty Ephram – had realized or tried to find out about. Anaxis wouldn’t make that mistake. It was rare the demon encountered anybody who was this suave about adjusting to interaction with a creature of the pits, and that wasn’t something it intended to take for granted.

“What I was thinking, babycakes,” Anaxis said, trailing its long fingers down Freddie’s side to the thick muscle corseting his hip, “was tying you up shibari style. With nice nubby scratchy knots in all your most tender areas. Then–” Anaxis gestured upwards, “–hoisting you up with that pulley, so I can have better, more convenient access to your … points of entry.” The demon’s voice was seething with amusement as it continued to caress and explore Freddie’s body with Ephram's big hands, finally coming around to Freddie’s groin. “Getting wet and ready for me yet, soldier?”

Freddie let out a little rumble of approval when Anaxis went for his cock, rocking into the pressure just enough to make sure the demon could feel the effect he was having. “I think we’re getting there,” he murmured.

He glanced up at the pulley and then shifted closer, purring, “And I think you’d better tie your knots tight, darling. I might not want to play again if you let me fall…”

In truth, Freddie still wasn’t entirely sure what to make of all this demon business - the fact that he was no longer dealing with Ephram was clear enough, but how exactly Ephram and Anaxis came to a custody arrangement over their body was a little less easy to understand. Was it rather like a multiple personality, and they took turns running the show? Was their time split evenly?

Or had Ephram not been able to handle the loss of his powers and retreated for the time being; too wounded by the idea of being a lowly human to keep control?

Freddie had no idea.

About any of it, really. He’d never so much as heard tell of an actual demon before, outside of Dante’s Inferno - and he tended to think that had been a little heavy-handed in its portrayal, if his new playmate was anything to go by. Anaxis seemed a touch more enfant terrible than Malebranche for Freddie’s money. And really, ‘witch’ wasn’t exactly a flattering moniker either when you thought about it…

Or _fairy_ , for that matter. But labels had never really been his thing anyway.

There was a part of him that knew intellectually that allowing a veritable stranger to tie him up in order to fuck him senseless was perhaps a little on the reckless side…but somehow, Freddie wasn’t worried. Tonight, as in all things, he was trusting his instincts; and his instincts told him that he was safe here - that whatever Anaxis was, when it came to Freddie, he’d laid his very specific cards entirely on the table.

And Freddie had picked them up willingly.

He passed the rope back to Anaxis with a smile.

“My knots are always tight,” Anaxis promised, “and I’m a demon, pretty thing. If I let you fall, you’ll only rise up so beautiful and powerful that you’ll be a danger to society.” It grinned, touching its tongue to its sharp incisors as he looked Freddie over again … concentrating particularly on the firm, thick coil between the fairy's legs that was now pushing against Anaxis’ hands. “I have to say you’re not like the others who’ve wanted to be with me. Everybody’s so caught up in the idea of being hurt or being forced and while I don’t mind that generally, it’s refreshing to find somebody who’s more on the playful side of being trussed up and fucked mindless.” Anaxis squeezed Freddie’s cock hard, accepting the rope when the man gave it back.

“Get your clothes off,” the demon said, command underlying the statement. “I want your body bared completely for me, so I can figure out where I want to put the knots.” Anaxis was glad that Freddie wasn’t trying to ask more questions about Ephram, what had happened to him; but then again, the demon had existed long enough to know that there would always be some people who were entranced by its presence, who wanted to see more of what a demon could offer, more of what darkness existed in the world. And Anaxis had to admit that for all the smooth flirty chat, the seemingly unflappable good-sport attitude, there was a flicker of something else in Freddie. Something that, perhaps, wanted to follow Anaxis down the rabbit hole.

And, Anaxis resolved as it prepared the pulley, Freddie would certainly get his chance to touch the darkness. Literally, at that. The demon snickered to itself as it picked up the thin rope again. “You’d better be ready for me, sugartits,” it said over its shoulder. “Otherwise I’ll be peeling that clothing from your body with my teeth.”

“Oh, I bet you say that to all the boys,” Freddie murmured with a smirk as Anaxis groped him; the demon’s hands sure and possessive on his dick, while he very deliberately tried not to think about whoever might have been begging Anaxis for pain, force and degradation. Freddie had no problems whatsoever with whatever helped someone get through the night - but for him, sex was all about pleasure; and he didn’t happen to get any from weeping and wringing his hands.

Or from having to wax philosophical about those who did, and what made them into such broken toys in the first place. As far as he was concerned, they could all have their turns on their own time. They weren’t intruding on his.

He did as he was told when Anaxis instructed him to strip; one article at a time, smooth and deliberate - echoing his time with Ephram, but with a smoldering sense of anticipation underlying now, rather than the desperate intensity of their first encounter.

Though really, Freddie supposed, this was a first encounter too…

He dropped his clothes, piece by piece, on the floor beside him, the chill of the warehouse hardening his nipples and giving him goosebumps, as he watched Anaxis fuss with the pulley. The thought of what was coming had already gotten him hard enough to rise and press against his belly, and when the demon turned around again to chide him along, Freddie was already naked and waiting, stroking himself slowly.

“I actually think I’d quite like that, love,” he said, rubbing his thumb across the head of his cock and smearing the wetness there, “-so next time I’ll make sure to go a little slower.”

Anaxis turned around fully to look at Freddie, and its cunning face pinched as it gave a long, appreciative groan. “Tell me you were an incubus or a satyr or some other sort of minor sexual deity in a former life,” it said, flat eyes sparking with luminescent white as it stepped closer. Anaxis pressed its thumb against one of Freddie’s hard nipples, then curved it along the root of that nub, sharp nail leaving a thin line of blood that it moved to tease with its tongue. “Like single malt whisky,” it grinned up at Freddie, a sharper expression than Ephram’s, more teeth bared.

Where Ephram had found Freddie to be an interesting and companionable sex partner, one who the witch felt immediate affection for and a desire to get to know better, Anaxis had no such complexity of emotion. The demon admired Freddie’s body, his willingness to fuck even after finding out what Anaxis was, but it could just as easily snap Freddie’s neck after it was done. Or during, for that matter. It was the capriciousness of its demonic nature that worked in Freddie’s favour, that made Anaxis want to see more of what Freddie was like since he didn’t balk.

“Now,” Anaxis said, rubbing its hands together, “let’s see about trussing up all this succulent meat.” The demon had affixed a pole to the pulley rope, and manhandled Freddie over to it with unnatural strength. “Now be calm and enjoy it,” Anaxis told Freddie, catching him hard under the chin, fingers sinking into the soft hollow of his cheeks. “You’ll be ready before you can count to ten.”

What followed was a strange stop-start of movement; Anaxis would blur with a hideous sound like a swarm of flies, then be visible tightening knots for a moment, and then blur out again. With each reappearance Freddie was bound a little tighter, a little more completely, and then finally Anaxis stepped back fully visible and entirely naked with its cock curved up out of the golden thatch of hair.

“Delicious,” it pronounced, reaching forward to grab Freddie’s balls where they were wrapped and presented. “And I’m sure you get the irony,” The demon laughed spitefully as he surveyed Freddie hung and spread-eagled in a crucifixion position, body criss-crossed with the rope bindings. Stepping closer, Anaxis cupped the heft of the fairy’s ass with its hand, murmuring against Freddie’s ear, “…can you feel the knot keeping your tight little fuckhole plugged? You should enjoy it, Freddie.”

The demon's voice multiplied without warning, changing from smooth and urbane, playful, to something roaring and cacophonous; its fingertips dug into Freddie's flesh, lascivious sludge in its words when it said, "...just like you enjoyed it when your vampire lover Martin held you down and fucked you bleeding and screaming when you were only seventeen years old." It clamped its other hand over Freddie's mouth, jerking the fairy's head back, intent on reading the sudden fear that it knew would be kindled in Freddie's blue-grey eyes at the ugly reminder of a past that Ephram shouldn't have known -- but then things glitched. Shook. The air around them pulsated with a wave of magic, of _mana_ , and Anaxis howled in frustrated rage as it all got sucked away.

* * *

  
“Take this,” the man standing next to Ephram said, slapping a wax-sealed scroll into his hand as the witch blinked, a wave of nausea coursing through him with the lingering taste of rot, and corruption, and _demon_. The man didn't seem to notice or care, continuing, "Once you get him down, it'll have your orders, and best be getting to them swiftly."

The man – a fucking Roman centurion, Ephram realized – nodded upwards, and Ephram found with a cold shock that they were standing in the shadow of a crucifix. He had to bite his tongue to keep from exclaiming in distress, seeing _Freddie_ hanging there naked with tight bands of rope securing his arms to the cross. “Always did have trouble with insubordination, that one,” the centurion snorted. “Lucky he’s in good with Consul Octavian. Fortuna smiles on Fredericus and no doubt.”

With that, he turned smartly on his sandaled heel and left, muttering complaints about favouritism. Two footsoldiers took the task of getting Freddie down from the crucifix, undoing the strangely intricate knots and ties of the thin black rope, and Ephram slung off the cloak he was wearing to give to the man. “Naked as usual,” he said with a half-smile, and handed Freddie the scroll. “Betcha our marching orders for turning on the mana pool are in there. Since I'm assuming this _is_ a mana pool, since we ain't in Soapberry no more, that's for damn sure.”

Freddie didn’t know what had happened. One minute he was trussed up in Ephram’s warehouse, wondering if he had quite enough _je ne sais quoi_ to amuse the demon and survive the night; and the next he was dangling painfully from an enormous cross in the afternoon sun, while a number of what appeared to be Roman Centurions stared up at him.

At first he’d thought he was hallucinating; or that it was a glamour of some kind that Anaxis was using to entertain itself, but before he could really begin to process the horror of that particular idea, he was being pulled down off his cross again.

And set directly in front of the demon himself.

Freddie tensed, and then… _didn’t_ anymore. Anaxis couldn’t have faked the warmth in those eyes.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he breathed, “ _Ephram_? Is that you, love?” Grabbing the cloak and the scroll from the witch’s grasp and promptly dropping them on the ground at his feet, Freddie surged forward and took Ephram’s face in his hands, pulling him into a relieved, grateful kiss.

He licked his way into Ephram’s mouth, murmuring, “You have _no_ idea how good it is to see you, darling…”

Ephram made a surprised noise that slid easily into a relieved, almost pleading moan as he opened his mouth for Freddie to kiss him more deeply, reveling in the mingled sense of desire and comfort that the fairy's touch brought after suffering Anaxis’s control of his body. He couldn’t remember details and that was good, at least, but the feel of Freddie’s solid form against his and the way that the fairy had seemed so, so fucking _glad_ to see him rendered Ephram near-senseless with gratitude. That this wouldn't be like the other times, with other people he'd thought would stand by him, resist the demon's seduction. This time it might be different.

“I’m pretty fuckin’ happy to see you too, honey,” he murmured, pulling Freddie in closer. “Even if we best not stand here kissin’ on each other in full view of everybody, when we got a job to get done.” Still, he kissed Freddie again, needy little kisses as he wrapped the other man tight in his arms, stopping only when one of the foot soldiers yelled, “Centurion Fredericus is to make his way to the tent for a meal celebrating his pardon, by order of Consul Octavian!”

Since it was best if they didn’t push it (and because Ephram liked the idea of them being in a tent for some privacy) the two of them made their way swiftly to the small, cool enclosure. Ephram wasted no time in dipping into the bowl of water perched on a high stand there and brought his cupped hands to Freddie’s reddened shoulders, spilling it and wiping the wetness across his muscled chest and down his strong arms. “We’ll check out the scroll for what we’re s’posed to do,” Ephram said in a low, determined voice as he splashed more water onto Freddie’s sun-parched skin (he couldn't stop, it felt like, needing to touch Freddie constantly and convince himself that the demon wasn't in possession anymore), “have something to eat, get you dressed and get going.”

“Sounds good to me,” Freddie agreed, trying to focus, but slightly distracted by which felt better - the cool water, or the gentle touch of Ephram’s hands.

However long he’d been up there - though it couldn’t have been _too_ long, he supposed; he was still thanking God that his fellow Centurions were apparently too fond of him to actually nail him to his cross - a near crucifixion wasn’t something easily shaken off. And Freddie was more than a little tempted to insinuate himself into Ephram’s space in search of a little special soothing…

But ultimately, he held himself back, remembering that, as Ephram had said before, they had a job to do - but resolving to make a little time after the fact to indulge himself and welcome the witch home properly.

Huffing out a bit of a sigh at his noble sacrifice, Freddie smiled. “So who do you think I fucked to end up on that thing? And who do think I’d have to have fucked in order to be rescued?” He chuckled as he looked around what he assumed was his tent - his and Ephram’s maybe? If that wasn't wishful thinking, in the midst of this mana pool. “And while we’re at it, where you think I keep my tunics?”

Freddie leaned in and kissed Ephram one more time now that they were actually alone - long, slow and deep - before pulling back again. “You read the scroll while I find my skirt, eh, love?”

It took a moment for Ephram to collect himself after that kiss, feeling deliciously half-melted to be the focus of Freddie’s considerably lavish attention. It was tempting (considering that Freddie was naked and sun-warmed and smelled of cool water on hot skin it was really _really_ tempting) to succumb to the physical contact they were both craving, but. Duty, whatever that might be, was calling pretty damn loudly.

Ephram gave a short, hoarse gasp when Freddie finally pulled away, his mouth left slightly wet and reddened, and nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” he said, turning to sort out the jumble of cloak and scroll that he’d scooped up before they went to the tent. “I’d reckon it’s, uh, maybe in a chest or something? Romans had chests, ain't that so? Don’t rightly know what else they’d do with their clothes.” He’d uncovered the scroll, but paused to curiously inspect his own set of garments before breaking it open.

“Wherever your uniform is,” Ephram said, “there’s a lot of it.” He himself was wearing a red woolen tunic that hit above the knee, giving a few inches bare above a linen wrap around each calf that extended down into his high-tying sandals. There was also some kind of loincloth thing, and a skirt of leather straps over the tunic, finally topped with shoulder-armour that looked like it was made of barrel staves put together. He probably looked ridiculous, at his height and being as lanky as he was. “But goddamn, honey," Ephram said, continuing his train of thought out loud, " _you’re_ gonna look real fuckin’ sexy in it once you find it.”

Breaking open the scroll, Ephram unfurled it and squinted at the Latin. “Centurions of the Thirteenth Legion Fredericus – that’s you – and Ephraim – that’s me – are hereby ordered by Consul Octavian to undertake an unorthodox military operation to be conducted in strictest secrecy.” Ephram stopped, hmmphing at the high formality of the letter, intrigued. “They are to gain entry to the temple of Venus Verticordia and there defile the altar in a manner certain to be contrary to the goddess’s edict of sexual pureness.”

Ephram felt his throat go dry, and put the scroll down on the table so he could pour and gulp down a cup of wine. “Freddie,” he said, looking over at the other man, “if they’re giving us _this_ as a duty to perform, then I’d say you earned yourself a real good reputation by fuckin’ the Consul himself.”

Freddie, who’d been rummaging through the tent, opening chests in search of his uniform - finally hitting paydirt in the last one he’d checked - stopped dressing himself and looked up at Ephram when he realized what their orders actually were.

The universe, it seemed, was rather in a hurry to apologize for all that crucifixion business. And it had a delightful sense of humor.

“Well, that certainly does sound like me,” he grinned when Ephram suggested that he’d slept his way to the top. “Is that really what it says though? That our _actual_ task here is to fuck each other’s brains out for the greater good? Because if it is, then _that_ , my darling, is possibly the greatest news I’ve ever heard.” Freddie smirked. “If I’m honest, I was actually about two steps away from defiling you - or begging you to defile me - as it was…”

“This just saves us time.”

“It sure does say that.” Ephram picked up the scroll and pointed at a word. “Right there. ‘Coitus’, it says, plain as day. Since we can apparently read Latin in this version of Soapberry.” He flushed a bit when Freddie mentioned that defiling had already been on his mind, because it certainly had been on Ephram’s. He didn’t know what it was about Freddie that had him in such a constant state of arousal; the fairy was attractive as fuck, that was no question, but there was also a certain easy, affectionate generosity to him that Ephram was drawn to like Freddie was an oasis in the desert. Maybe that was it. The simple, wonderful pleasure of being fascinated by somebody who was fascinated with you in turn.

Freddie finished dressing as quickly and efficiently as he could - sandals and all - before presenting himself to Ephram for inspection; standing a little closer than was strictly necessary for a good once-over. Standing a little closer than was strictly necessary to do much of _anything_ that didn’t include an exchange of bodily fluids, really. And he couldn't bring himself much to care if that was appropriate in the middle of a mana pool mission or not. They were owed this much, Freddie thought, considering he'd - they'd _both_ \- narrowly escaped the demon.

“So how do I look, love?” he asked. “Fit enough for us to join the lads for dinner, at least?”

“You look like I wanna suck you off again and swallow you down,” Ephram breathed, lifting his hands to drag along Freddie’s sides, biting back a moan at the feel of his firm body beneath the tunic, the heat radiating off of him. He was so fucking intoxicating, and Ephram was, at the moment, more than susceptible to it, his body eager to be touched and held with confidence and care like he was actually worth something even _without_ the demon working its charm and--

Well. He didn’t want to get too maudlin. They had a job to do, after all. “You look fit enough to be dinner, is what I’m sayin’,” Ephram said with a sideways smile. “Dip you in olive oil and go to town.”

“Sweetheart, you can eat me for every meal if you like,” Freddie purred, “-any way that you like; and you know it.” He reached for the fall of Ephram’s tunic, gathering it up to brush his fingers over the witch’s thighs; already driven to distraction by Ephram’s hands on his body, and half-hard for him.

Freddie had only met a few people in his lifetime that could command his attention and his affection, hold his interest and make him pant for them - but Ephram was certainly one of them; and he found it extremely difficult to keep his hands, and his intentions, to himself.

Especially since the feeling appeared to be mutual. And responsibility had never been Freddie’s strong suit.

“If you keep talking like that though,” he murmured, his hands entirely up under Ephram’s tunic now, pressed to the warm skin beneath it, “-filling my head with thoughts of you on your knees, then we are going to be extremely late for the banquet…”

Freddie smirked teasingly. “Unless of course, you think we should just skip it altogether and get a head start on our mission? I mean, I _am_ the guest of honor, after all. Shouldn’t that make it my prerogative to give it a pass?”

He’d been the one to initially bring it up, but hearing Freddie talk about what Ephram could do on his knees made the witch’s eyelids lower to half-mast, the feel of Freddie’s sure, greedy hands on his thighs adding to the headiness of it all. It had been decades since Ephram’d had any chance for this kind of relationship with a man, the companionable matched with the carnal, and he was just as besotted with Freddie as it seemed the man was with him.

But Ephram’s East Kentucky roots ran deep, and in Apple Fall, the military was tradition as much as coal mining was. “We best not defy an order from the Consul that the other soldiers know about if we wanna keep this operation a secret,” he said reluctantly. Leaning in, he passed his tongue gently along the seam of Freddie’s lips before pulling back and rearranging his tunic. “Let’s go see what ancient Roman food is like.”

* * *

As it turned out, ancient Roman food was a peculiar mixture of familiar and unfamiliar tastes and textures, but fortunately (whether a function of this existing entirely in a mana pool or some actual reflection of the manners of the time) nobody paid much attention to what anybody else ate or talked about. Freddie and Ephram were able to get through a decent amount of time spent and food consumed before they made their excuses, once the other men had gotten a good laugh and joke out of Freddie’s near escape.

After all that rich food and the close eating quarters with a group of overheated, drunk men, the fresh air of the rapidly swelling evening was a relief. “Right, so,” Ephram said as he took a deep chilly breath, “according to what the rest of the fellers was saying, the temple should be that way.” He pointed down a street and began to head along at a brisk trot. But then he paused, and backtracked a little to stop at one of the small alcove street shrines, one to Concord, and took out from the folds of his tunic a couple of the honey-sesame cookies he’d eaten a score of at dinner and compulsively nabbed for later consumption. Placing them on Concord’s altar, Ephram passed his hand over the candle and then over his head before doing the same to Freddie. Benediction of the flame conferred, he picked up a small cluster of fat, dusky black grapes, eating one and then tucking one into Freddie’s lush mouth. “We could use the blessing,” Ephram said solemnly. “Considering what sacrilege we’re about to do.”

The sour taste of the posca they’d been drinking at dinner still lingering, Freddie sucked a little at Ephram’s fingers as he withdrew them before chewing thoughtfully on his grape.

“I’m never one to say no to extra blessings,” he mused with a smile after he’d swallowed, “-Christ knows every little safeguard helps; but given the way things turned out the last time we enjoyed each other’s company, I’m fairly certain the Gods are already on our side, love.”

Freddie fought the urge to pull Ephram in for a kiss, and only won out by the skin of his teeth. “This is a challenge you and I are very much qualified to rise to.”

“Though,” he carried on as they left Concord’s shrine behind them and turned in the direction that Ephram believed the temple they required should be, “-you’re clearly the better soldier between us, darling. Rather obvious, I suppose, considering I was nearly crucified today, but that doesn’t mean it should go unmentioned.”

He smiled, catching the witch’s eye as they walked, the moonlight casting flattering shadows across Ephram’s already handsome face. “I have the sneaking suspicion that you’re a very good man, Ephram…” Freddie said softly. “…here’s hoping I don’t rub off on you too much…”

“Dunno bout God bein’ on our side. Or my side, anyhow.” Ephram had wanted to stay away from the topic but since Freddie had brought it up (in a manner of speaking) he couldn’t keep from talking about it. “You met Anaxis, you know what the demon’s like. It would’ve either ripped the skin off you or else convinced you that you were special to it, that it loved you.” Ephram shuddered, moving unconsciously closer to Freddie's sturdy presence, his warmth, as they made their way from the shrine. “So maybe you’re the one with God on your side, and I’m the sorter feller would make a good soldier.”

He gave Freddie a rather wan smile. The armed forces had been one of the few options open to Ephram back in rural Kentucky – God knew a lot of his kinfolk had gone into service – and even though Ephram had ended up down in the mines instead of out in the desert, he had nevertheless learned a certain type of ordered obedience. So, “I try to be a good man,” Ephram agreed. “Dunno how much I succeed. But that’s everybody’s story, I reckon.”

  
“I rather think the Romans and the Greeks were on the right track,” Freddie mused as they walked, noticing the way Ephram shifted closer to him and slipping an arm around him as best he could, in spite of the awkwardness of their armor, “-because those Gods, the ones for fighting and fucking and wine? _Those_ Gods would have loved us, darling.” He stopped short when Ephram went on to mention Anaxis; turning to face him, and reaching out to tilt the witch’s chin up. “He wouldn’t have convinced me of anything, love. I know a lie when I hear it - and I never make the same mistake twice.”

“And as I said before,” he murmured, leaning in to kiss Ephram again, licking the sticky sweetness of the grape from his lips, “-I am very very glad to have you back again.”

But Freddie couldn’t help smiling softly when Ephram suggested that everybody tried to be good, knowing how loose his own definition of goodness could be sometimes. “Well,” he chuckled, “-maybe you’ll be the one to rub off on me then, eh?”

They walked on, and when they reached the temple unscathed, Freddie gazed up the stairs for a moment, eyes fixed on the door, before turning his attention back to Ephram again, a gentle smirk on his lips. “So…any special requests before we head in? Or shall we just do whatever comes naturally?”

“It’s true, ain’t it? That you wouldn’t have fallen for Anaxis.” Ephram fixed Freddie with a wondrous look, hand curving around the fairy’s muscled arm as they stopped walking. “You’re ... you're so glad to see me back again. You wouldn’t have wanted Anaxis to stay. Even though we only just met, you like _me_ better.” It was a little bit of a tentative statement, a little bit of a young and vulnerable thing to say – but since he was a boy, Ephram had watched his father leave, his mother choose the bottle, his girlfriend choose the needle. He’d learned to accept that even people he cared about wouldn’t make him a priority. For Freddie to do it on only the second time they'd met, with such sincerity and sweet names? It was like the man had unerringly located Ephram’s most susceptible spot, and Ephram didn’t know how to protect it.

Maybe he didn’t even want to.

Something ached a little inside Freddie at the boyish insecurity of Ephram’s surprise that he - perhaps that _anyone_ \- would make the witch their first choice. It seemed tragic somehow. Because Freddie was jaded in ways that he couldn’t even articulate; bored, and frustrated, and experienced to the point of wondering sometimes if there was actually _anything_ new left to try. He’d seen everything before; in every variety it came in. Until he’d arrived in Soapberry Springs.

But even in Soapberry - which was full of things and people Freddie had never anticipated - Ephram was something special. “You have no idea, love,” he told the witch softly.

The temple was high and white in the dimming light, and they could smell the incense wafting inside from the steps they were stood on. Ephram took his helmet off, blond hair slightly damp from being covered, and blinked at the door, his eyelashes sweeping slowly. “I want you,” he said, clearly and decisively. “I wanna feel you inside me, filling me up so there ain’t no room for anything else but you, honey. I want everything to only be you, Freddie, that’s what I want.” Ephram looked over at the fairy then, a hectic flush in his cheeks, eyes dark and needy.

At the foot of the temple stairs, when Ephram told him what he wanted, Freddie let out a low throaty murmur of desire, and he nodded his head. “Then that’s what you’ll have,” he said thickly, his cock already twitching under his tunic, eager for what had been promised, “-as much and as long as you want it.” He reached out and grabbed Ephram by the front of his leather-strapped skirt, pulling him closer, and he kissed him hungrily; already thinking of everything he wanted to do to him once he’d laid the witch bare, before finally pulling back to breathe, “Let’s get inside.”

Ephram stopped right inside the doorway of the temple, where it was dimly lit by oil lamps and redolent of flowers, and wrapped his arms tightly around Freddie, letting his helmet clatter to the floor. It seemed like Ephram wanted to say more, but he couldn’t find words of his own. His head was swimming with everything Freddie had said to him, all those wonderful, kind, warmly dirty words.

“The altar’s further in,” Ephram said, breathing more rapidly, and unbuckled his armour to let that fall as well. The belt went next, the leather straps of the kilt, the loincloth, and finally Ephram untied his sandals and stepped out of them. He dragged his fingertips down Freddie’s chest, almost swaying, drugged by the incense and darkness, the nearness of the other man and what had been promised. Turning, Ephram pulled off his tunic in quick, rough gestures, baring himself almost entirely as he headed towards the leaf-and-blossom strewn altar of the Venus. All that was left was the slowly unraveling wraps around his calves and feet. “Freddie, Freddie, you’re making me love you as much as I fuckin’ want you,” Ephram said as he went. “And Jesus, honey, I want you like a falling man wants wings.”

They stood there, silent in the temple, the weight of unspoken words and feelings mingling with the headiness of the flowers and the incense, and when Ephram stepped away, shedding his armor - his fingers on Freddie’s chest making the fairy’s heart beat harder and faster, as his cock swelled - Freddie followed him to the altar, utterly enthralled.

The word ‘love’ stilled him though. Widened his eyes, and frightened him, even as a deep insistent want started to burn in his chest and down in the pit of his stomach. “You shouldn’t,” Freddie said, his voice low and rough with desire, as he started to remove his own clothes, “I don’t deserve it.”

Freddie stepped closer - armor and accessories discarded now, sandals gone - instructing in a whisper, “Up on the altar now; let me see you,” and helping Ephram to get there, before taking the witch’s foot and unraveling the wrap it was bound in, kissing his way down Ephram’s calf to his ankle, and then doing the same to the other one.

“I don’t deserve your love at all,” he said again, smoothing his hands up Ephram’s thighs and bowing his head to kiss them too, “-but I want it.” He spread Ephram’s thighs and licked up to the crease of his leg, before nuzzling gently at Ephram’s balls, “I’m very very selfish and I want everything you’ll give me…”

“So you can fall as much as you like, darling; because very soon, wings aren’t going to be a problem.”

Freddie raised his head, and licked his lips, meeting Ephram’s eyes, and then taking his cock into his mouth. If he was going to defile this altar, then he had every intention of doing it right.

It was breathtaking, the sight of Freddie baring his skin like he was unwrapping something priceless, and Ephram made himself breathe slow and steady as the fairy kissed his ankle before moving to his other leg. The care in the gesture, the sensuality mixed with a sort of claiming, made him feel like this was some pagan ritual of sacrifice. The good kind, where both people wanted it, and good God how Ephram wanted this. Wanted Freddie, so much that he almost lost Freddie’s murmured words as the fairy’s mouth moved over his thighs tense with anticipation. He caught the tail end, and felt indignance rise in his chest.

“You _do_ deserve it. Everybody deserves to be loved at some point,” Ephram protested hotly, even though he was starting to gasp at the feeling of Freddie’s nose and mouth against his balls. “I go with my first instinct on these things and my instinct's saying that you, honey, you were built for loving. Ain’t none of us innocent but that don’t mean we ain’t worth the troubl– oh, fuckin’ _hell_ , baby.”

Ephram stared down at Freddie intently, pupils blown big and hot in the dimness of the temple and the desire flooding his body, and he only had time enough to say, “…your wings, Freddie, they’re the most beautiful things, I want em back again too,” before Freddie was taking his cock into that generous, hungry mouth. “ _Ah_ ,” Ephram gasped, then gave a longer, urgent moan as he let his head fall back and reached down to tangle his slim fingers encouragingly in Freddie’s soft brown hair, struck by the sudden way that this all made him feel ... _pretty_. It had been a long time since Ephram had done the coquettish thing, feeling that he’d outgrown what had worked for him so well in his sweet-faced, androgynous youth, but Freddie made him feel like he could do that again. Be soft and supplicating and yearning if he wanted to be, instead of usually being the instigator, the aggressor, the one in control.

It wasn’t as if Ephram was unhappy with his sex life as it stood. It was just that ... Freddie had reminded him of a part of himself that hadn’t been tended in too long, and there was something about the fairy – something deep and unfathomable in his steady eyes, his generous mouth, the honeyed words in that entrancing burred-whisky voice – that made Ephram trust this man with that tender and wounded need. “Please,” he begged, hips pushing up as he bit his lip. “It’s been _so long_ for me, Freddie, please, I need you.”

The warm Southern sweetness of Ephram’s voice praising him, calling him honey, and baby, and beautiful, did things to Freddie that he was almost ashamed to admit to - even to himself. Because he loved attention, affection - he gloried in it, preening when it was bestowed on him; always greedy for more - but from Ephram, it hit deeper than that; caught him somewhere more personal and primal.

Ephram touched a nerve. Without even trying.

Freddie groaned around the witch’s cock, as Ephram’s fingers tugged at his hair, reveling in the taste of him; salty warm skin, and bittersweet excitement thick in his mouth, making his own prick leak that much more as it ached, untouched, under his tunic. He took Ephram deep, dragging his tongue along the underside, teasing just under the ridge, and then sucking at the head; wrapping one hand around the base to stroke him. Pulling out all the stops.

Thinking of the way Ephram’s mouth had felt on his wings as the witch had fucked him so beautifully; the way Ephram had taken what he’d wanted and still given Freddie everything he’d needed…

And how much he wanted to do the same for Ephram tonight.

When Ephram’s hips bucked up, and he started begging, Freddie pulled off, still jerking Ephram slowly, his lips wet as he gentled him. “I know, sweetheart,” he murmured, “-but I don’t want to hurt you.”

He ducked his head to kiss Ephram’s thigh again, promising, “One second, darling,” and then stepped away to retrieve one of the oil lamps, blowing out the flame, and dipping a finger into the reservoir to taste the oil; relieved beyond words to discover it was olive. If it had been as long as Ephram said, then Freddie’s tongue alone wouldn’t have been enough to make taking him a pleasant experience. Not to start, at any rate.

Bringing the lamp back to the altar, he stripped off the last of his clothes, and then climbed up, spreading Ephram’s thighs wide and settling between them; taking the opportunity to stare; to devour Ephram’s beautiful body with his eyes. And then he drizzled the oil over his cock, and his fingers, and covered that body with his own; craving contact, and kissing Ephram as he slipped his hand between the witch’s cheeks, teasing at his hole with his fingers, before pushing two inside to begin to work him open.

“Tell me how it feels, love,” he breathed against Ephram’s lips, the hot tight clutch of Ephram’s body already making him feel feverish with want. “Tell me when you need more…”

“It’s okay,” Ephram panted, reaching out for Freddie and the feel of his skin, the hardness of his body. His hands didn’t alight anywhere for long; Ephram was too keyed-up to dissemble or tease, too enamoured with Freddie and everything about him to touch the fairy with any patience or design. “It’s okay,” he said again. “If it hurts. Whatever you give me, I want, Freddie, I want you every goddamn way I can have you.” Ephram dragged one knee up, hitching it against Freddie’s hip and gasping, open-mouthed and damp, as Freddie expertly palmed his stiff, leaking cock. “I been had rough before. Won’t be no hardship with you, honey.”

Ephram made a low whining sound of protest when Freddie moved away, even though he knew it wouldn’t be for long. There was no stopping what they were about to do, he wasn’t worried about that, but every moment that Freddie was out of Ephram’s orbit was a lost moment of closeness and heat. It was as if they’d been meant to find each other, and now that they’d done that two times over, Ephram was loathe to sacrifice any time that they could spend together.

When Freddie came back and took off his clothes, bearing an oil lamp, Ephram watched in steadily mounting astonishment as Freddie dipped his fingers into that oil and tasted it, tested it, made sure that it was suitable to his use. It was too much, it was almost too much; it wasn't a show or an affectation and Freddie demanded no gratitude but all the same Ephram felt like babbling out a stream of thanks, for Freddie's care, for a care that nobody had ever taken with him. For that taste of oil and the considering look on Freddie's face. “You ... you look like you belong here, Freddie,” Ephram murmured, hand pressed dazedly against his mouth, sucking on two of his fingers before down the fairy’s abdomen to trace the contours of his musculature. “One’a these gods, maybe, or a gladiator. One’a them fellers knows how to use a spear.” Ephram gave a huffing laugh at his own foolish comments, his mouth gone dry as he watched Freddie gild himself in fragrant oil dripping rich as honey, and then cried out when Freddie eased two slippery fingers into him.

“It’s good,” Ephram said quickly, eyelashes sweeping down in slow counterpoint as he consciously made his body relax, accept those strong fingers inside him, open the bracket of his hips wider. The closeness of Freddie, the weight and the scent of him, they did their magic too and Ephram groaned in pained pleasure, riding against Freddie’s fingers. “More,” he said, dazed. “I can’t wait to feel you inside me, sweetheart, your big gorgeous fuckin’ cock deep inside me. All the way in. Want you to fuck me open so I’m just right for you, God, Freddie, please honey….” He trailed off there, reaching to grab Freddie’s hips and shove down on his fingers, giving a plaintive, entreating moan.

Freddie had wanted to go slow; to take his time and draw it out…

But he couldn’t. He wanted Ephram far too much to even attempt to try.

He worked his fingers deeper, twisting and crooking them as Ephram pushed back, his groans making Freddie’s cock throb…and then withdrew them, taking himself in hand and pressing the head of his prick - slick and needy - to Ephram’s hole. This kind of naked overwhelming desire reminding him of what it was like when he was young; when his control was so much less absolute.

When he wanted everything all at once, and thought he’d die if he had to wait for any of it.

Pushing inside, his breath coming hard and shaky when the head slipped past that tight ring of muscle, Freddie turned his face toward Ephram’s neck, the sweet tang of the witch’s sweat on his lips, and murmured, “You’re already just right for me…”

“…you’re so fucking good it hurts, darling…"

Hooking his arm under the other man’s leg and settling it up on his shoulder, Freddie started to fuck Ephram in earnest; slow, and then faster; rolling his hips in a steady driving pace as the slick, animal sound of their coupling echoed, obscene and beautiful, in the silence of the temple.

It hurt. It hurt like hell when Freddie pushed into him, and Ephram gave a shattered, reedy groan through his gritted teeth as he forced himself to breathe, to not tense up. “Honey, oh God, Freddie,” he gasped, “it hurts, so fuckin’ good, been so long…”

The nearness of the other man helped with the pain, because then Ephram could concentrate and get drunk on the heated, rich scent of Freddie’s skin, the taste of his deliciously overripe mouth, the heaviness of his body. “Oh,” Ephram bleated when Freddie maneuvered one of Ephram’s long legs onto his shoulder, opening him up wide, so wide as Freddie moved in closer to start up a rhythm of fucking him. The pain started to morph into something else, ribbons of pleasure intertwining with the hurt like peppermint candy, icy and burning at the same time. “So glad, sweetheart, so fuckin’ glad I found you, feels so damn good.”

Ephram flung his arms out to grasp the stone edges of the altar, his back arching, chest rising and falling irregularly as his breathing jerked in time to Freddie’s thrusts. “Don’t ever go away,” he panted. “I want you around. I want you in my life.”

When Ephram said that it was hurting, there was a part of Freddie that was tempted to stop - to slow down, take it easier; to do whatever he had to in order to spare the other man any pain - but he realized almost immediately that Ephram wouldn’t want him to. Ephram could take it - take _him_ \- and it would be doing him a disservice for Freddie to do anything to imply he thought otherwise. “I know…” he breathed, “…you were waiting for me, love…you knew _I’d_ be the one to fuck you the way you need it…”

“Yeah, I was,” Ephram said, vision bleary and the fine pale hairs along his hairline plastered to his face as he broke out in warm blooming sweat all over. “I was waitin’ because you can fuck me right, baby, the way I need it, the way I ain’t had it in so long. And I can have you, Jesus, more’n I ever wanted any man. You’d be good for me, Freddie, you already are.”

There was a care in Freddie’s arms, an attentiveness, a pure and irresistible desire to make sure that his partner was having as much pleasure as he was, and Ephram was entirely taken with it. He knew it was fast, that he knew barely anything about Freddie. But Freddie, entirely unexpectedly, had offered Ephram catharsis for some of the torments of his past. And he wasn’t one to push such gifts away.

Being inside Ephram - the slick heat, and the needy pull of him; the tightness that stole Freddie’s breath and made his blood pound through his veins - was intoxicating; as addictive as being fucked by him had been - and Freddie was already thinking greedily about the next time. And the time after that. And the hundred more times to follow until he knew every inch of Ephram’s body, and had taught the witch every inch of his own.

They fit together - rejoiced in each other physically - in ways that Freddie hadn’t often experienced, and he wouldn’t do anything to undermine that. Not now, not _ever_.

Feeling the change when the balance between Ephram’s pleasure and pain started to shift - the noises the lanky witch made, the way he writhed underneath him - Freddie began to go harder, driving deeper, as he worked a hand between them to get to Ephram’s cock, doing his best to stroke him in time with the rhythm of his hips.

But everything stuttered for a moment - hips, hands - and Freddie’s breath caught hard, when he heard Ephram tell him to stay, to never go away because Ephram wanted him in his life; and he groaned, leaning up to kiss his witch, deep and hungry.

He couldn’t promise to stay, but that didn’t matter. Not yet, anyway. “I want that too, darling,” Freddie murmured against Ephram’s lips, raw and honest because he couldn’t seem to be anything else tonight, “…I want to matter to you…”

The rich scent of the fresh olive oil was hanging heavier in the air now, catching the incense and the deeply fleshy smell of their fucking. Ephram bucked against Freddie’s hand on his cock, drove himself down to meet Freddie’s length plunging into his body as if the fairy had all rights to it – which he did, Ephram knew that much now as surely as he knew Freddie’s body was his to use in turn – but then everything paused. Briefly, though, not enough for Ephram to start getting worried, and then chased away entirely by the feel of Freddie’s mouth on his.

Ephram blinked up at Freddie, panting damply as he dragged his wet fingertips over those reddened, plush lips. “You matter to me,” the witch said distinctly, more so than the slurred, drunken words that had been pouring from his mouth all this time. “You already do, honey, like you said. I been waiting for you.” Reaching up to wrap his arms around Freddie’s broad shoulders, Ephram licked the underside of Freddie’s chin, then kissed the tip of his nose, then murmured against his mouth, “…cum inside me. I want you filling my belly.”

In his more introspective moments - few and far between though they were; Freddie wasn’t one to look backward, or examine his own motivations too closely - Freddie could admit that he hungered more for affection and approval than most people, and that a particularly enterprising analyst might have a few things to say on the subject.

But did introspection ever do anyone any good really? What mattered was the need. And finding a way to fill it. As often as possible.

He couldn’t deny the way Ephram’s words affected him though; the way they reached into his chest and squeezed. From someone else, Freddie might not have believed them - he’d have taken them; warmed himself with them as they burned, bright and quick, like a kindling fire; over too soon with nothing substantial to keep it going - but from _Ephram_ …

Ephram seemed prepared to keep feeding the flame - and Freddie was too greedy, and too captivated - already too attached - to protect them both and keep his distance. There was something there, something he wanted, and he couldn’t let it go, or have it pass him by. For better or worse.

Ephram had said that Freddie would be good for him - that he was already good for him - and Freddie wanted very much to prove him right. In every way he could manage it.

Rubbing his thumb over the head of Ephram’s prick as he jerked him, and down over the ridge, Freddie pushed closer, shifting the witch’s leg up higher and changing the angle as Ephram chased his pleasure as fast and as hard as Freddie could give it to him. Ephram’s hands and fingers, his kisses, and the tight clenching heat of being inside him, were dismantling Freddie’s stamina with each passing second; he was close - so fucking close - and he wanted Ephram right behind him…

So it was already there, already building, hot and thick, when Ephram told him to come, that sweet honeyed voice asking to be filled up - and that was all it took for Freddie to give in. His thighs shaking, he groaned raggedly and did exactly what he was told; thrusting hard and deep into Ephram’s ass, filling him up just like he’d wanted, his hand still moving as he pushed to bring Ephram with him.

Grabbing hold of Freddie, his long fingers digging into the fairy’s shoulder blades where his wings should be, Ephram curled up from the altar so he could be even closer to Freddie. To hear the hoarse timbre of Freddie’s voice groaning his release, to feel the hot spill of it deep inside him, to feel the grasp on his cock spasming erratically as Freddie rode out his orgasm and coaxed Ephram along.

He didn’t have any interest in resisting, not with the way Freddie sounded, the expression on his face that made Ephram want to kiss him for hours, the shuddering of his thighs and tight, muscled body. It still made his head whirl, this feeling between them; obviously the two of them enjoyed sex without strings, would have been happy with a casual encounter that night in the warehouse. _But_.

But.

Ephram hadn’t expected the pull that Freddie had on him, the utter insatiability between them; it could’ve been chalked up to both of them scratching an itch, but it turned out to be immeasurably more than that. No matter what the fairy had been before, here, now, forever, Freddie was his, and the realization of it was what made Ephram cry out as he came in Freddie’s strong grip, clinging to the man. His body clenched down on Freddie’s cock inside him as he rode it out, the waves of pleasure and joy intermingled, until it was over and his muscles went slack, soft. Feeling the safety of Freddie's arms around him and the breath they shared.

“Freddie,” Ephram murmured, wrapping his arms around Freddie’s neck and nuzzling against his face, spent and content. “Don’t move just yet, honey. Mana pool’s gonna toss us out anyhow, so I wanna hang onto you till that happens.” He felt deliciously, dirtily full, Freddie’s semen slowly starting to make its way out of him, and Ephram pressed his face to Freddie’s neck and breathed in deeply. He imagined he smelled a hunger there, a longing for a connection that Freddie maybe didn’t think he deserved. Maybe Ephram didn't think he deserved it either. But maybe if they had the audacity to grab this opportunity that the good Lord or fate or fucking blind universal chance was offering them, Ephram was certain it would sate some of the need that bled from them both without cease.

Freddie resonated within him. A clear calming tone that sounded through Ephram like healing, like salvation, like a future where he was loved and cherished. Spreading slick and easy as olive oil, tasted on Freddie's loving tongue.

“Stay inside me,” Ephram said, one more time, kissing the corner of Freddie’s eye as carefully and tenderly as if the fairy were made of spun sugar. “It’s where you belong.”


End file.
